NATO appeals to Gadhafi troops to stop using human shields

The Canadian general commanding the NATO campaign against Libya says the alliance is appealing to Moammar Gadhafi’s troops to stop using human shields.

Lt.-Gen. Charles Bouchard, who heads Operation Unified Protector, says the effort has seen some success.

“We’re working very hard to make the Gadhafi regime forces understand that what they’re doing is wrong,” Bouchard said Thursday in an interview with The Canadian Press from his headquarters in Naples, Italy.

“I’m convinced not many members of his forces are doing it by choice, but they are doing it because of the fear of reprisal against them. We’ve had numerous cases of defection and I think they realize what they’re doing to the population.”

Gadhafi has been accused of herding women and children into strategic buildings that could be targeted by NATO warplanes, including his command compound which was hit by missiles Wednesday night.

Bouchard denies the air strike was meant to assassinate the long-time dictator, saying the area contains a command and control centre.

He says human shields were nearby, but denies anyone was hurt or killed.

Bouchard made the comments on the same day a Canadian warship helped fend off an attack by Libyan forces on the port city of Misrata.

The frigate HMCS Charlottetown and a British destroyer went to the aid of a French warship as a number of Libyan fast small boats launched an attack on the beleaguered Mediterranean port.

The frigate came under fire during the incident, which NATO describes as artillery and anti-aircraft canon fire coming from regime forces ashore. The Charlottetown responded with a short burst of machine-gun fire of its own, and none of the allied warships suffered any damage.

The attacks on Misrata, which has been pounded repeatedly by pro-Gadhafi forces, has seen some government troops shed their uniforms and drive around in civilian pickup trucks with heavy weapons, Bouchard said.

He said they’ve set adrift untethered mines, in violation of international law.

The alliance launched 46 air strikes on Wednesday, most of them focused on Tripoli. The warplanes hit command and control centres, ammunition dumps and anti-aircraft missile launchers.

Libyan state television claimed that the North Korean embassy in Tripoli was damaged, but NATO denied the report.

The international arms embargo at sea, imposed by the United Nations, has succeeded, the general claimed.

Despite weeks of bombardment, Bouchard said the Libyan military still poses a significant threat to the civilian population and has resorted in some cases to guerilla warfare — or unconventional tactics — to fight off rebel advances.

Observers have suggested that there is better co-ordination between anti-Gadhafi forces and NATO, but the general says the longer warplanes are flying missions, the more familiar they are with what’s going on at ground level.

The Harper government, just before the federal election, put through a motion that allowed Canadian CF-18s jetfighters, based in Trepani, Italy, to take part in the enforcement of the UN no-fly zone over the troubled north African country.